Federico Chiesa’s Liverpool Crossroads: A Pre-Season of Opportunity
Federico Chiesa’s Liverpool story has reached the uncomfortable middle chapter. The name is big, the reputation intact, but the reality of his first full season at Anfield is brutally small.
The numbers from 2025/26 strip away any illusion. Thirty-three appearances in all competitions, but only two starts. Just 686 minutes across the entire campaign. In the Premier League, the picture tightens even further: 23 appearances, one start, 278 minutes, 2 goals, 1 assist.
For a player of his calibre, that is not a role. It is a cameo.
This is not what Liverpool thought they were signing. It is not what Chiesa imagined when he walked into Anfield. And it certainly is not the platform a forward needs when he is trying to rebuild rhythm, confidence and trust after a difficult debut year in England.
One Clear Decision
Yet Chiesa has made a choice that cuts against the easy narrative of a swift exit.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the Italian is not pushing for the door. Not yet. His plan is to report for pre-season and put himself in front of Liverpool’s new head coach, Andoni Iraola, before any decision is made.
Romano, speaking on his Italian YouTube channel, laid out the landscape: questions from Juventus, talk of Inter using him on the right, the idea that Napoli or Roma could circle back. His answer was pointed: at this stage, Chiesa wants Liverpool, or at least the chance to fight for Liverpool.
“At the present time the decision made by the Liverpool player is to participate in the preseason – to get together with the new coach Andoni Iraola. Chiesa just wants to play his cards in preseason at Liverpool.”
That line matters. He is not asking for guarantees. He is asking for a fair look. One summer, one system, one manager to convince.
Iraola’s First Big Call
For Iraola, this is an early, revealing test of judgment.
On paper, Chiesa still brings plenty: experience at the highest level, sharp movement, the ability to break lines, and the technical quality to decide games. On the pitch last season, though, his Liverpool career never truly started. The lack of minutes raises awkward questions about sharpness, durability and whether his profile really fits what this team has become.
Iraola’s football does not tolerate passengers. It is built on running, aggression, and precise timing in transition. At his peak, Chiesa ticks those boxes. He presses, he drives, he attacks space with conviction. The problem is simple: can Liverpool see that version of him consistently enough in pre-season to justify holding him beyond the summer window?
Romano’s update makes one thing clear: this is not a decision for now. It will not be rushed through in late June. Liverpool and Chiesa will use pre-season as the audition.
“If during this preseason it becomes clear that the space between Chiesa and Liverpool is limited in that case he could become a name for the Italian market in the last weeks of the transfer market,” Romano explained. “It is not an operation for late June – not for these days.”
So the clock is ticking, but not yet ringing.
Italy Waiting in the Wings
Back in Serie A, interest sits patiently in the background.
Juventus, Inter, Napoli, Roma – the links make sense. Chiesa is still a known quantity in Italy, a player whose strengths and recent frustrations are both well understood. There would be no mystery around what he can bring, or what he needs to rediscover.
For Liverpool, the view is likely to be colder, stripped of sentiment. Iraola must decide whether Chiesa can realistically add depth, unpredictability and experience to a forward line already packed with options. If the answer is yes, there is still an Anfield chapter to write. If the answer is no, the final weeks of the window will feel like a natural point of separation, the quiet end to a move that never quite found its rhythm.
The Harder Road
For now, Chiesa has chosen the more demanding path.
He will stay. He will report, run, and compete. He will put himself in front of a new manager and a new idea of Liverpool and try to force his way into it. No drama, no public push, just the determination to change minds on the training pitch and in pre-season games.
At a club where standards are unforgiving and time is rarely generous, this may be his last real card to play.
